Tenn. Wing Hosts Advanced Training

Lt. Col. Morgan Torp-PedersonPublic Affairs OfficerTennessee Wing

About 50 Civil Air Patrol members from five wings gathered at Tennessee Wing Headquarters from April 28-29 for training to hone emergency response skills for disaster relief and search and rescue operations.

The training was focused on a tool developed by CAP and the National Guard – the Domestic Operations Awareness and Assessment Response Tool, or DAART. It’s a system that allows wireless delivery of video or photo images from aircraft or ground teams in the field.

Members from the Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and North Carolina wings attended the class at McGhee Tyson Airport in Alcoa. The training included classroom instruction and practice using the system in both aircraft and ground vehicles.

"The number of members who came out for the DAART training was very encouraging," said Col. Barry Melton, Southeast Region commander. "DAART is an emerging imagery technology for CAP, and it’s very important that our members are given the opportunity to become proficient."

DAART training

Members from five wings watch a presentation on the Domestic Operations Awareness and Assessment Response Tool, or DAART, at Tennessee Wing Headquarters at McGhee Tyson Airport in Alcoa.

Emergency response

CAP members from the Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee and North Carolina Wings participate in emergency response training.

The technology allows emergency management teams instant access to video of events, location tracking and communications with the teams and gives them the ability to transfer still images.

This capability provides unprecedented ability for the users of the video and images to review and provide feedback during data collection. Real-time feedback can make the difference in getting images and video from the needed angles and areas on the first try.

The Tennessee Wing's Lt. Col. Ande Boyer, who served as operations section chief for the event, said the goal was to expand CAP's pool of qualified DAART operators in anticipation of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Ardent Sentry exercise in May.

"This year, the exercise is geographically centered around the mid-Atlantic coast, simulating a hurricane coming to shore in the Carolinas, working its way inland impacting the mid-Atlantic and mid-South," Boyer said.

Lt. Col. Al Van Lengen, Southeast Region deputy chief of staff for operations, said members learned how DAART provides imagery, video, geospatial information and more to teams at the federal, state and local levels.

"We cannot prevent a major catastrophe, but in an organization like this, we have volunteers who sacrifice their personal time, weekends and family to prepare themselves to support our country and their communities in times of need," Van Lengen said.